In all fairness, I will present the final week of training prior to his 7 day taper period.

I will only focus on track workouts and times, which will give you a good indication of his fitness and speed endurance for his 200 meters and 4x400m relay.

All I can say is.. it worked for him!

Note his workout on Wednesday July 16. Now, this is a true speed endurance session as he’s going 95% max with full rest periods. These are the workouts I like to see, but usually with a volume of 500 meters.

Sunday July 27, 1980

Monday July 28, 1980

Jimson Lee

I am a Masters Athlete and Coach currently based in London UK. My other projects include the Bud Winter Foundation, writer for the IAAF New Studies in Athletics Journal (NSA) and a member of the Track & Field Writers of America.

I usually aim for a 2 week taper with a track meet 2 weeks out. Charlie Francis advocated a 10 day taper. This explains why you see a lot of all-comer meets on the Wednesday 10 days out from a big meet.

Well, “Amen” that his later workouts approached 100% effort! I will make one subjective observation. As consistent as Mennea was (as viewed by his documented repetitions), and the fact that a large portion of his training seemed geared towards the 400 meter race; it seems odd that Mennea never broke 45 seconds for the 400 meter race. He would have made an ideal 400 meter sprinter.

interesting that PM went against the typical European/Russian approach to training method which tend to emphasize Under-distance. V. Borzov work out included a lot of 30m, and 60m wind sprints from blocks and w/o.

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Online since 2002, with the addition of the Blog in 2007, SpeedEndurance.com is the book I never wrote with 2000+ articles.
I am a former 200m/400m sprinter, a Masters Athlete and Coach, who has lived in Canada, US, Italy, and now resides in London UK. My other projects include the Bud Winter Foundation, writer for the IAAF New Studies in Athletics Journal (NSA), and a member of the Track & Field Writers of America.

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